For Jupiter Police, Manhunt A Priority

December 25, 2009|By Andrew Marra The Palm Beach Post

JUPITER — The hours and days have been running together for Jupiter Police Chief Frank Kitzerow since Thanksgiving, when police say a man opened fire and killed four relatives at a home in an upscale Jupiter community.

The suspect, Paul Michael Merhige, remains on the loose. Even at home, Kitzerow finds himself wondering where the mentally troubled, armed man is hiding.

Jupiter, better known for its lighthouse and celebrity snowbirds than violent crime, has found itself at the center of the manhunt.

"You're never really off," Kitzerow, 52, said in his office Wednesday. "When you're not working, you're constantly thinking about the case."

The Jupiter Police Department, with about 110 sworn officers to oversee more than 50,000 residents, has had a lot of help in the search for Merhige, 35. The U.S. Marshals Service has taken the lead in the national search, with help from the FBI and the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office.

Even so, Kitzerow said about 25 officers - nearly a quarter of his staff - are dedicated full-time to the investigation and manhunt.

The logistics of processing all of the evidence from a bloody murder scene and four dead bodies have been a heavy workload. And then there's the process of sifting through the more than 200 tips.

"We get a number of people who call thinking they saw him," Kitzerow said. "We follow up every tip that comes in."

During the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings in 2002, Kitzerow was a major in the Fairfax County (Va.) Police Department and commanded a task force of officers from 16 agencies to help sort through more than 70,000 tips that poured in while the killers were at large.